Segunda-feira - Segunda-feira (Monday)

Ti porto con me Segunda-feira de Lisboa Nel mio antico mare Nell'Acqua Occidentale Nel Mediterraneo Affollato di navi E corpi d'ignudi nuotatori Fanciulli con sguardo da fiere Gli occhi di lince dei Braganza Fissano il Nord Sognando l'oltremare Come ghirlanda intrecciano una danza Trago dentro do meu coraçã Todos lugares onde estive: A entrada de Singapura O coral das Maldivas Macao da noite A uma ora, a uma ora Ti porto con me Segunda-feira de Lisboa Nel mio antico mare Nell'Acqua Occidentale Nel Mediterraneo Affollato di navi e corpi D'ignudi nuotatori Segunda-feira de Lisboa Che nome d'incanto! Qui da noi è lunedì Soltanto Segunda-feira © 1996 Franco Battiato & Manlio Sgalambro Segunda-feira means Monday in Portuguese. Sgalambro wrote these lyrics as a sort of homage to the Mediterranean after a phone call with Battiato, who was in Lisbon. The reference to Braganza calls forth the era when, beginning in 1640, the royal House of Braganza supplied Portugal its kings.

I carry you with me Lisbon Monday in my ancient sea in the Western Waters in the Mediterranean full of ships and bodies of naked swimmers. Children with proud gaze, the eyes of Braganza lynx affix the North. Dreaming beyond the seas, like a garland they weave a dance. I bring inside my heart all the places I've been: the Singapore Inlet, the Maldives Coral, Macao at night at one o’clock, at one o’clock. I carry you with me Monday in Lisbon in my ancient sea in the Western Waters in the Mediterranean full of ships and bodies of naked swimmers. Segunda-feira of Lisbon – such a name of enchantment! Here among us it’s Monday, merely. English translation © 2020 Dennis Criteser L'imboscata (The Ambush) was released in 1996. It marked another change of direction for Battiato, returning to the world of rock and the electric guitar after his turn into classical music sonorities beginning in 1986. He also felt a desire to connect to a larger popular audience (the sales of his previous album were the lowest of all his pop albums going back to 1979; L'imboscata became the second best selling album of the year). The album cover is a painting by Antoine-Jean Gros - Napoleon at the Pyramids. Like the previous album, the lyrics were by the Sicilian philosopher Manlio Sgalambro, with Battiato's input on "Di passaggio" and "La cura." The album was dedicated to the writer Gesualdo Bufalino, a close friend of Battiato's.

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